Yesterday
we woke up at a more reasonable hour of 7:00 to take a taxi into town and buy
tickets to Banfora, where we will be staying the night. The bus didn’t leave
until 11:00, however, so we took some time to walk around Bobo and have a nice
leisurely breakfast. As we were walking, I spotted a place called Café Nid D’Or,
whose name I thought I remembered seeing in the guide book. As it turns out, I
was completely mistaken, but it was a nice little spot to have breakfast. We
had omelets with baguette and tea, and the place had a kind of chop-bar feel to
it. Unfortunately, it was located right next to a fish market, so there was a
bit of an odor when the wind wasn’t blowing the right way. With our breakfast
we were also given a bottle of lemon flavouring, that I had at first thought
was detergent, and a questionable (unsealed) bottle of water to go with it. I
guess this was meant to be used to make a kind of unsweetened lemonade, but I
was too suspicious of the water to try more than a mouthful.
After that
we kept walking around and we found the Patisserie De Bonne MIche that actually
was in the guidebook, and we still had plenty of time to kill, so we stopped in
for a second breakfast. This time we had pain au chocolat and a carton of mango
juice. It was quite delicious, and the patio was right on an intersection, so
it was pleasant to people-watch as we had our meal. From there we made our way
back to the bus station and on to Banfora.
We had a
little more trouble finding a place to stay in Banfora. The options were more
limited, so our previous method, finding a place from the guidebook with a clean
self-contained room without air conditioning, failed us. When our first choice,
L’Hotel Canne Sucre, turned out to be full, a guide whom we’d met at the bus
station suggested another place around the corner that was good for students.
It was far from glamorous, but it would have been fine except that the toilets
were across the courtyard and a little bit sketchy looking. We opted for the
slightly more pricy La Rounier, whose only remaining room was called La Grande
Case complete with air conditioning and satellite TV. But it was only for one
night, and in the end, we were very glad we’d chosen it.
After a
little bit of difficulty haggling in French with our guide, we managed to
arrange to be taken to the Sindou Peaks on a couple of motor scooters for a
reasonable faire. The cheapest option would have been to drive ourselves, and
on the way there, that would have been fine for me. But on the way back, the
dust was so horrendous I could hardly believe it. There’s no way that I could
have returned safely in that mess, so I’m glad we opted to be driven. Also,
Marika doesn’t know how to drive a motorcycle or a scooter, and I wouldn’t have
wanted her freaking out on the back of mine.
The peaks
were absolutely phenomenal. It was such a beautiful location, and our guides
were quite knowledgeable about the anthropological significance of the site for
the Sindou initiation rituals. We got some great pictures in and around the
peaks, and I dared to stand on top of one that was only a few feet in diameter.
It was only about 15 feet above the plateau that we were walking on, but from
the ledge it had to be at least a hundred feet down. I was very proud of
myself.
The trip to
the peaks took just over an hour, but it was longer on the way back because of
the dust, and because we stopped to buy bus tickets for today on our way back.
We wanted to shower first, but our guides insisted on getting them on the way,
so I’m pretty sure the whole bus station was laughing at us. I honestly could
not believe how dusty we all were by the end of it. Marika and I looked like
Oompa Loompas and our guides looked like clowns with their orange afros and
orange tinted eyelashes. The pictures of us were pretty hilarious. For kicks,
we used some of Marika’s face wipes to clean half of our faces so that the
difference could be seen and photographed. This of course sent us into fits of
laughter that lasted the whole rest of the night. We both concluded that we
would never truly be clean again, and that we’d be coughing up mud for at least
a week.
After our
showers, we went to have a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was in a
ventilated pavilion. The otherwise glowing atmosphere was shattered by the
appearance of what Marika calls a bumble bee, though I’m not entirely sure what
species it was. The fact is it was huge, at least three inches long and an inch
wide, and made a horrific clicking noise as it flew. In a matter of moments,
the waiter, the receptionist, and the security guard (at that point making up
the entire staff on site) were engaged in the expulsion of this bee from the
restaurant area. As soon as the first blow was struck, we knew it would have to
be a battle to the death, otherwise no one would feel safe in the restaurant.
Marika fled to the parking lot as soon as the battle began, and I joined her
moments later when the waiter started swatting at the bee with a rag as if it
were a tennis racket. I’m glad I did, too, because more than once the bee was
swatted into the area where I had just been seated. After a few minutes, the
bee was swatted to the floor and stepped on, and we returned to our seats,
thanking the staff profusely and laughing uncontrollably. By the end of the
ordeal, we were happy and tired, and went pretty much straight to bed.
This
morning we got up before the sun in order to trek down to the bus station to go
back to Ouaga. The first leg of the trip was kind of uncomfortable. For an hour
and a half we were squashed into little tiny seats where our backpacks would
barely fit underneath. Our knees were almost at our chests, and the backs of
the seats were a weird shape that made sleeping uncomfortable, but I still managed
to pull it off. Then we had to switch buses in Bobo, and there was a slight
complication because I lost my ticket. So even though I had paid already to go
all the way to Ouaga, I had to buy a new one for about $15. Not the end of the
world, but a pain. The next bus was much nicer, even though it was swarming
with mosquitos. At least the mosquitos didn’t seem to be hungry. They mostly
just flew around annoying people. I had a little collection of dead ones on the
window ledge because I couldn’t help slapping them when they got too close to
me.
Upon
arriving in Ouaga, we got a taxi to the same hotel as before (though our room
this time is slightly less mosquito-proof) and then made our way to the
downtown core to do some exploring. We walked around and saw La Place des
Nations Unis, and the national theatre, and the art market. I bought a cute
little jewelry box, and Marika got some jewelry. After figuring out our buses
for tomorrow, we headed back to the hotel, and now we’re basically just resting
and recuperating from our long days this past week. Tomorrow we’ll be on our
way back to Bolga, and hopefully we’ll start our placement in the days to come.
We’ve finally heard back from Doris, and she has our rooms ready for us
tomorrow. It looks like we’ll be starting work on Friday, but it’s hard to say.
Either way, I’m excited to get settled in. I’ll keep you posted!
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